Chapter 465 - 437: Gray Race Legacy

"Let’s go. Since they’ve gone to the trouble of inviting us, we might as well take a look." Qin Ziwen’s biggest worry was getting instantly killed by the so-called curse mechanism the moment he stepped inside.

Even a stats-based powerhouse fears a mechanics-based enemy.

Since it wouldn’t kill him instantly, there was no harm in checking it out.

A rope was tied just inside the cave entrance and thrown down the cliff face. The group rappelled down the rope to the bottom of the cavern.

Qin Ziwen could hear the churning of a nearby lava lake. It was an active one, radiating waves of intense heat.

Reaching the outskirts of the ruins, Qin Ziwen stopped, halting just outside the area where the Ant-man had died.

He extended a foot, then pulled it back.

He repeated the motion several times, testing the boundary.

"Bro, what are you doing?"

"I’m testing the limits."

"..." Qin Ziwu fell silent. "What if we’re already in range?"

"Shut up." Qin Ziwen’s eyes were fixed on the depths of the ruins. Zhang Shitou had said he heard a sound earlier.

’Now that we’re all here, will the sound appear again?’

"CLANG~ CLANG~ CLANG~"

From deep within the ruins, the faint sound of hammering metal suddenly echoed.

Qin Ziwen understood. "It’s testing us, too."

"Why would it be testing us?" Qin Ziwu asked, confused.

Qin Ziwen glanced at him.

Then, he looked back toward the ruins. "Let’s go. We’re going in."

Before Qin Ziwu could even shout a warning, his big brother had already stepped into the depths of the ruins.

Mogu started to follow, but Qin Ziwen turned back. "You stay outside. Don’t come in unless I call for you."

"As you command." Mogu stopped in his tracks, watching his master’s back as he disappeared.

The surrounding ruins were vast, with small mountains of rubble forming rolling hills.

This glimpse was enough to tell that the city had once been enormous.

But no city, no matter how large, could withstand the test of time. Now, these ruins were steeped in a dead silence, completely devoid of life.

Not a single plant could be found, not even in the cracks and corners of the city.

Qin Ziwu followed warily behind his big brother, his guard fully up.

Qin Ziwen rounded a corner, and the view ahead opened up dramatically.

A massive crater appeared in his field of vision.

The ground here looked as if it had been blasted open by some immense power.

The central area was sunken, as if a meteorite had crashed down.

Water had pooled at the bottom of the crater—a thick, blue-violet liquid that reflected the overcast sky like a murky mirror.

At the core of this mirror-like lake, a tree was growing.

The tree was less than four meters tall, but its trunk and branches were extremely lush, spreading out like an open umbrella.

Its leaves were large and thick, and its slender branches were laden with plump, heavy fruit.

The dazzlingly golden fruits looked as if they were cast from pure Gold, making them incredibly eye-catching.

"So many Golden Apples." Qin Ziwu’s eyes lit up.

A single Golden Apple had made his heart race, but there were so many here, it was like a wholesaler’s stock. A quick glance revealed at least several dozen.

He excitedly tugged on his big brother’s sleeve. "Bro! We’re rich!"

If they could take this many Golden Apples back, couldn’t they just mass-produce Extraordinaries?

His brother had said this stuff could turn someone directly into an Extraordinary. With dozens of them here, that meant dozens of Extraordinaries!

"Strange," Qin Ziwen murmured. He wasn’t looking at the Golden Apple Tree, but at the ruins on either side.

"Bro, what are you looking for?"

"You guys don’t hear that?"

Qin Ziwu looked completely baffled. "What sound? There’s no sound."

Qin Ziwen’s pupils constricted. He turned his head and stared at his younger brother. "You didn’t hear anything just now?"

"No. Don’t tell me my hearing’s going bad." Qin Ziwu started to panic, seeing that his brother’s expression wasn’t faked.

"Chief, I haven’t heard any sounds since we got here either," Lei Wenbo said in a low voice.

"I haven’t heard anything either, Chief," the others chimed in.

Qin Ziwen fell silent. ’Damn it, I fell for it.’

The surface of the lake before him suddenly rippled, stirred by a wind that came from nowhere.

The scene before his eyes suddenly began to spin.

In his eyes, the Golden Apple Tree at the bottom of the crater suddenly grew, expanding endlessly until it blotted out the sky above. It visibly transformed into a colossal, towering tree, and he was like an ant standing beneath it.

The tree above was laden with plump, golden fruits. But now, these fruits were like a multitude of suns, emitting a scorching golden light.

He couldn’t help but sigh. "I was careless."

"Hello," a voice said from behind him. "Human."

Qin Ziwen turned around. At some point, a gray humanoid silhouette had appeared behind him. It was close, less than ten meters away, yet he couldn’t make out its face no matter how hard he tried.

He looked around again. Qin Ziwu was gone. Lei Wenbo was gone. All the others who had come with him had vanished without a sound.

’An illusion?’

A flicker of uncertainty crossed Qin Ziwen’s eyes.

"This place is real, and yet not real. It is merely a special place." As if guessing his thoughts, the gray figure before him spoke gently, "I mean you no harm. If I did... I’m sure you would have sensed it."

Qin Ziwen asked, "You went to all this trouble to trick me into coming here. What do you want?"

"Because your identity is not a simple one. You are a Lord of the Homeland, are you not?" the gray figure said. "Allow me to introduce myself. You can call me Gray. I am a collective consciousness formed from the lingering souls of the Gray Race. For certain special reasons, I have merged with the seal beneath our feet. Only by you coming here can I communicate with you."

"And?"

"Human." Gray stared at Qin Ziwen, a trace of resignation on its featureless face as it noted his wariness. "You are very cautious."

Qin Ziwen said, "I’ve downloaded the anti-scam center app before."

Gray didn’t understand what an "A-P-P" was, and "anti-scam center" sounded somewhat nonsensical, but that didn’t stop it from discerning the meaning from Qin Ziwen’s tone and their spiritual connection.

It acknowledged Qin Ziwen’s caution. "It’s good that you’re so vigilant. Back then, we of the Gray Race were too naive. Otherwise, we wouldn’t have ended up in our current predicament."

Gray suddenly asked, "Would you be willing to listen to a story?"

"Make it quick," Qin Ziwen said, staring at it.

Gray was silent for a moment, then gave a bitter laugh. "Alright. It is indeed a boring and cliché story. Our Gray Race was once a Tuiyuan, but our ancestors grew tired of wandering and chose to settle here. They carefully selected this underground world as a suitable place for our people to live.

Besides us, there were some native inhabitants in this subterranean world, such as those Fishmen and some Insect Men. They were all very ignorant, however.

Our ancestors helped them, but in the end, they chose to betray us, which is how they became what they are today."

"That does sound a bit naive," Qin Ziwen nodded in agreement.

Hearing this, Gray laughed. As it did, ripples spread across its fog-shrouded face.

"Human, this way. Follow me."

Qin Ziwen followed it through the ruins and into the depths of the city.